Post#1723 » by Gimli » Sun May 8, 2022 11:09 pm
With regards to today's game, it was a very ugly one, with no clear boundaries.
No one could play any proper defense, because the fouls were getting called immediately. Also they couldn't really play physical offense for the same reason. So their gameplans kinda went haywire.
The Mavs built their 14 point lead, 3pointer shooters went hot, CP3 was out and it looked like a huge advantage for the Mavs. But the problem was closing it. They had to win, because going 1-3 to PHX is a suicide... And PHX miraculously kept staying in the game, Crowder came back on a bad ankle, hit some stepback shoots... I think the lack of experience from the Mavs really showed up today. Against the Clipps and now the Suns, they were always the huge underdogs, but today in the middle of the 2nd they were supposed to win and struggled with it.
All in all, I don't think anyone can put too much stock in todays game. No one could play anything due to the refs. I just hope the Mavs play more through JB, otherwise they'll lose for sure game 5. Doncic was getting exhausted already in the 3rd, luckily for the Mavs they won, but they were playing with fire. They can't afford such mental lapses in game 5. Hot shooters don't matter, because LD will still get tired and their defense will collapse. Only JB can prevent LD from getting tired.